ICED EARTH Announces New Guitarist

ICED EARTH guitarist/leader Jon Schaffer has posted the following message on the band's web site:

"Our new guitar player's name is Troy Seele. Troy did a few solos on the new record and will be touring with us. He's been a friend of mine for about 10 years and is from the Indianapolis (Indy) area. He's by far the best guitar player in Indy and will be bringing some cool vibes to the table."

A 30-second audio sample of the ICED EARTH song "Ten Thousand Strong" has been posted online at this location (Real Media). The track comes off the group's upcoming EP, "Overture of the Wicked", due on June 5 via SPV (one day earlier internationally). A video for the song will be filmed a video during the coming weeks, most likely in early June right around the band's appearance at the Sweden Rock Festival.

"Overture of the Wicked" track listing:

01. Ten Thousand Strong
02. Prophecy
03. Birth of the Wicked
04. The Coming Curse

Check out the cover artwork at IcedEarth.com.

Regarding the songs that appear on the "Overture of the Wicked" EP, ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer recently stated, "First, the song 'Ten Thousand Strong' is the single track, and it will appear on [the upcoming full-length album] 'Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)', albeit a bit different than the single version. Second, the 'Something Wicked' trilogy that is comprised of the songs 'Prophecy', 'Birth of the Wicked', and 'The Coming Curse' has been completely re-recorded. From the ground up this is a more vicious and more atmospheric version of the epic piece. I played all of the guitar tracks with a baritone guitar and Brent [Smedley, drums] and I are locked up like a machine gun with the double kicks following many of the detailed picking patterns. This makes for a more intense- and wicked-sounding rhythm section. All of the vocals have been redone, obviously by Tim Owens, who did a masterful job at retaining the passion and honesty of the original, and still put his stamp on it and made it his own. We also put in some teaser atmospheric things that will give you a hint of things to come on Part 1. But just a hint... we don't want to spoil any surprises."

2007 will see the arrival of ICED EARTH's eighth full-length studio release, "Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)", which expands the "Something Wicked" storyline first introduced in the trilogy of the same name appearing on the 1998 release, "Something Wicked This way Comes". "Framing Armageddon" will be followed in February/March 2008 by the band's ninth full-length studio release, tentatively titled "Revelation Abomination (Something Wicked Part 2)", continuing where "Framing Armageddon" leaves off. In addition, ICED EARTH will start its headlining tour in Europe in October and then will hit the road in the U.K. as the support act for HEAVEN AND HELL (Dio-era lineup of BLACK SABBATH) in November. 2007 will also mark the return of ICED EARTH to a select few of Europe's biggest festivals, including Sweden Rock, Rockwave in Greece and Germany's largest metal festival, Wacken Open Air. The tentative plan is for the North American leg of the world tour to kick off after the holidays in January of 2008. The year 2008 will also see ICED EARTH spreading its brand of metal to Australia, Japan, South America, and Russia as well as headlining many of Europe's biggest festivals.